The blocking of a thought/response should generally not be a firm NO. Its role is not to make a horse’s choice impossible, just more difficult than an alternative response. The blocking of a response is meant to act as an encouragement to try something else and not a discouragement to try anything.
Connecting The Reins to the Hindquarters and Forehand
Teaching Responsiveness To Pressure
Learning and Un-Learning
Trust and Obedience Discussed Further
The thing that separates good horse people from second-rate ones, is this idea that the best horse people are always working on expanding the ‘contract of trust’, whether it is a first-time experience or the horse has done it a thousand times. The second-rate horse people are just satisfied with obedience and are okay with a horse working to simply avoid trouble.